Fifth Republic

On the night of my fifth wedding anniversary with Sebastian Gray, he lit up the entire city with fireworks for me. All our friends kept saying what a wonderful man he was—so loving, so romantic. The kind of husband every woman dreams of. At the grand finale, the fireworks burst into words that lit up the night sky: Happy Birthday, Jen. Jennifer Kingsley was Sebastian's first love, his ideal woman, the one who had always lingered in his heart. Sebastian looked at me, his expression almost sheepish. "Ah, it's Jen's birthday too. They must have mixed up the fireworks." That night, Jennifer posted on her social media: "Men are boys till the day they die, always fumbling their way through romance." She added a picture of the fireworks, along with a photo of her and Sebastian standing close under the dazzling display. I liked her post and left a comment: "From school to altar—what a touching love story. When's the wedding?"

For our fifth anniversary, my boyfriend, Caelen Blackwell, flew me—and his mother—to Miami. I thought he was going to propose. Instead, he checked me into the cheapest room of a luxury villa and disappeared. Two days later, I found out he was staying in the private suite with another woman—his mistress, Samatha, the same woman he had just proposed to. When I confronted him, all he said was, “I’d never marry a crippled woman. Look at you, you’ll never be rich, powerful, or beautiful like her.” So I just made one phone call to my father—the most feared mafia boss in Spain—and told him to cut off everything Caelen had been using to build his empire. It’s not like I didn’t know how men like him worked—use a woman up, then toss her aside. I just never thought he would be stupid enough to believe I was the kind of people who could be disrespected or discarded like this.

Who said a werewolf necessarily has to have a normal mate? Is it either just someone from the pack or a human? What if they are both Alphas? Alphas who rule their cities better than anyone? Bianca, the alpha of SunVille wasn't just any woman to mess with. She is proud, sweet, brutal, and also authoritative. No one would ever dare to cross the bad side of the silver-haired alpha. Bianca was the rarest werewolf who came from the line of rare moon werewolves and she was the fifth of them to ever exist. Zane, alpha of Moonshine city. He was cold and vicious and no woman dared to be near him. When the alphas first met, she knew he had a dark and hidden secret she was willing to go miles to unfold. ***** "I'm not the right person for you Bianca." "I'd like to know the reason why you aren't.” ***** The moon goddess wouldn't make things easy for them either as the third wheel came in, Jessica, an enemy in the form of a friend. What will they do? Love transcends all they say but not all love.

Stubborn, secretive and an impossible flirt, Ashton Pierce has all the qualities that should prompt Hayley Barclay to run a mile away from him. Maybe the bad boy aura he exudes is too much for her to resist! Orphaned at thirteen, Ashton would have gone astray had Daniel Van Every, his best friend’s father, not adopted him and brought him home. Ever since, a close relationship develops between him and the Van Every children, Alexander and Alyssa. As Alyssa close friend, Hayley meets Ashton almost every day. Can she resist his charm? With a mile-wide ego, Ashton refuses to acknowledge Hayley who is six years younger. Even when they grow up, Ashton doesn’t “do" dating, especially not with a multi-billionairess, who’s the sole heiress to her family’s fortune. What happens when Hayley grows up into a bombshell? What happens when she pursues him every where? What happens when the dark secrets of his past doesn’t affect her? Can he resist her? Read this fifth book of the temptation series to find out!

On the fifth year after marrying Giovanni Santoro, the Don of the Santoro family, he decides to make a public appearance with his mistress, Valentina Conti. He no longer denies the truth behind the romantic scandals. Videos of them that have been taken in secret, as well as salacious gossip featuring the two, are spread like wildfire in New Albion. It's an act of declaring ownership over Giovanni that he himself has silently permitted. There are even busybodies who don't know their place and decide to prod me for answers with smiles on their faces. "Does this mean someone else is going to replace you as the Donna of the family?" That night, the underworld of New Albion secretly goes through a thorough purge. I file for a divorce with Giovanni immediately before marrying his biggest enemy, Franco Messina. After that, the Santoro family goes into bankruptcy. Their power and authority easily crumble into dust. Giovanni kneels before me. With tears running down his face, he begs me for forgiveness. I just smile while waving the divorce agreement in my hand. "Sorry, but we're already divorced."

"Little wolf, I'm sorry, but there is pack business to be dealt with." Raven's phone interrupts our fifth anniversary dinner. As his mate and Luna of the Silver Moon Pack, I have grown accustomed to such disappointments. But when I discover his "pack business" was to comfort his dead Beta's widow—his former flame Astrid—my perfect world begins to crumble. *** Sylvia thought she had everything: a powerful position as Luna, a responsible and loving Alpha mate, with only her inability to conceive casting a shadow over their happiness. But Astrid's calculated manipulations shatter these illusions one by one, pushing Sylvia toward an abyss she never saw coming. The man she thought loved her unconditionally repeatedly chooses another, and even her fertility struggles seem to hide darker secrets. "You're still my Luna," Raven whispers, his touch both familiar and foreign. "Nothing has changed." "Everything has changed," Sylvia responds, her voice breaking. "You chose her over me, again and again."

On my fifth birthday with Zachary Murdock, I sit once again in front of a full table of cold food, just like every year before. Zachary had promised, as always, to spend the day with me. And, as always, he breaks that promise. This year, it's because his childhood sweetheart wanted to shoot a set of "artistic photos". She invited him and a few of his close buddies to be part of it. Without hesitation, he ditches me again and runs straight into her arms. At 11:00 pm, his childhood sweetheart posts a photo to her social media and sets it so that only I can see it. In the picture, four men are in nothing but black briefs and Windsor-knotted ties. They kneel around her while she is draped in sheer fabric like a goddess. The caption reads, "Some people beg for crumbs, but I own the entire bakery." I take a screenshot. Then, I send it to the girlfriends of all three of Zachary’s best buddies. If they all look down on me this much, let's hope they don't end up on their knees begging me someday.

In the fifth year after migrating to a new country, my wife, Nyra Sinclair, brings her first love, Jacob Griffin, and his daughter, Zoe Griffin, home with her. "Jacob and Zoe are new to this country, so they shall be staying with us for the time being." I get into a huge fight over this matter with Nyra. On my birthday, Nyra hands me a divorce agreement. She urges, "Hurry up and sign it. Jacob needs a green card. We'll have to go through a fake divorce first." With a frown on my face, I try to pry for more details from Nyra, only to get accused that I don't have any sympathy for Jacob at all. A short while later, I see Jacob's latest post on Instagram. "Nyra is getting a divorce for my and Zoe's sake! We finally have a place to call home!" I just leave a like there quietly. After leaving my signature on the divorce agreement, I lodge a request to my company so that I can fly back to my home country, Myrthia.

Loki caught her husband cheating on the day of their fifth marriage anniversary. To make matters worse, he was unremorseful and had cheated on her with someone who seemed like a perfect version of herself. He then retrieves an already prepared divorce documents and tossed it to her with a huge alimony, disregarding her love and devotion to him for five years of their union. After being forced to sign the papers, Loki was kicked out by security upon his instructions, tagged as an imposter claiming to be his wife. Enraged by the insane depth of her husband's betrayal, Loki vowed to make him regret his existence. By a series of incidents, she rose to power and became the most powerful, feared, respected and indomitable woman the world ever knew, causing havoc to all who dared harm her, her son or even the mysterious man she later crossed paths with. Loki, now Rhiannon, needed not to hide under the cover of any man to be protected. She made her own rules and her vengeance against her ex husband became a lesson to all mankind.

On our fifth wedding anniversary, I discovered I was two months pregnant. I wanted to surprise Owen Reed with the news. However, on my way home with the gift-wrapped ultrasound report, I got caught in a street shootout. A stray bullet tore into my abdomen. Right as I collapsed on the pavement, writhing in pain, Owen appeared out of nowhere. He had told me he was away on business and would not be home until evening, but here he was, frantically shoving through the crowd. He ran right past me and toward a woman up ahead. "I'm sorry I'm late. Don't worry, nothing's going to happen to you." His voice was soft, gentler than I had ever heard it. He swept her up in his arms and disappeared down the street, surrounded by bodyguards. He never saw me. I was barely three feet away, bleeding out on the ground. When I woke up in the hospital, my baby was gone. That was when I knew I was done with this marriage.